scholarly journals SARS-CoV-2 Viral and Serological Testing When College Campuses Reopen: Some Practical Considerations

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Isaac Chun-Hai Fung ◽  
Chi-Ngai Cheung ◽  
Andreas Handel
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Serological Testing ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ◽  
Personal Protective Behaviors ◽  
Close Contacts

ABSTRACT The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic prompted universities across the United States to close campuses in Spring 2020. Universities are deliberating whether, when, and how they should resume in-person instruction in Fall 2020. In this essay, we discuss some practical considerations for the use of 2 potentially useful control strategies based on testing: (1) severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing followed by case-patient isolation and quarantine of close contacts, and (2) serological testing followed by an “immune shield” approach, that is, low social distancing requirements for seropositive persons. The isolation of case-patients and quarantine of close contacts may be especially challenging, and perhaps prohibitively difficult, on many university campuses. The “immune shield” strategy might be hobbled by a low positive predictive value of the tests used in populations with low seroprevalence. Both strategies carry logistical, ethical, and financial implications. The main nonpharmaceutical interventions will remain methods based on social distancing (eg, capping class size) and personal protective behaviors (eg, universal facemask wearing in public space) until vaccines become available, or unless the issues discussed herein can be resolved in such a way that using mass testing as main control strategies becomes viable.

scholarly journals Free Speech on Campus by Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
Rosanne Cordell
Keyword(s):  
Free Speech ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Constitutional Rights ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
College And University ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The University ◽  
College And University Campuses

Free speech on college and university campuses in the United States is a complex topic with competing and conflicting rights, governing body responsibilities, goals, legal precedents, popular views, and purposes. To untangle all of this requires both attention to fine legal points and a broad view of societal needs. Chemerinsky and Gillman have the expertise and experience to bring both these characteristics to bear on discussions of this topic, but they do much more: they outline specific policies that can and should be followed by universities and colleges in seeking to provide the best of higher education. Chemerinsky (The Conservative Assault on the Constitution, The Case Against the Supreme Court, Closing the Courthouse Door: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable) and Gillman (American Constitutionalism: Structures of Government, The Votes that Counted: How the Court Decided the 2000 Presidential Election) have distinguished positions at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law and taught an undergraduate seminar on Free Speech on College Campuses in 2016. Their combined voices bring a clarity and, surprisingly, brevity to this topic that are rare.

scholarly journals Dynamic prioritization of COVID-19 vaccines when social distancing is limited for essential workers

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (16) ◽  
pp. e2025786118
Author(s):  
Jack H. Buckner ◽  
Gerardo Chowell ◽  
Michael R. Springborn
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Vaccination Campaign ◽  
The United States ◽  
Years Of Life Lost ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Health Goals ◽  
Temporal Flexibility ◽  
Nonpharmaceutical Interventions ◽  
Epidemiological Characteristics

COVID-19 vaccines have been authorized in multiple countries, and more are under rapid development. Careful design of a vaccine prioritization strategy across sociodemographic groups is a crucial public policy challenge given that 1) vaccine supply will be constrained for the first several months of the vaccination campaign, 2) there are stark differences in transmission and severity of impacts from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) across groups, and 3) SARS-CoV-2 differs markedly from previous pandemic viruses. We assess the optimal allocation of a limited vaccine supply in the United States across groups differentiated by age and essential worker status, which constrains opportunities for social distancing. We model transmission dynamics using a compartmental model parameterized to capture current understanding of the epidemiological characteristics of COVID-19, including key sources of group heterogeneity (susceptibility, severity, and contact rates). We investigate three alternative policy objectives (minimizing infections, years of life lost, or deaths) and model a dynamic strategy that evolves with the population epidemiological status. We find that this temporal flexibility contributes substantially to public health goals. Older essential workers are typically targeted first. However, depending on the objective, younger essential workers are prioritized to control spread or seniors to directly control mortality. When the objective is minimizing deaths, relative to an untargeted approach, prioritization averts deaths on a range between 20,000 (when nonpharmaceutical interventions are strong) and 300,000 (when these interventions are weak). We illustrate how optimal prioritization is sensitive to several factors, most notably, vaccine effectiveness and supply, rate of transmission, and the magnitude of initial infections.

scholarly journals Social distancing compliance: A video observational analysis

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0248221
Author(s):  
Evelien M. Hoeben ◽  
Wim Bernasco ◽  
Lasse Suonperä Liebst ◽  
Carlijn van Baak ◽  
Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Physical Distance ◽  
Video Observation ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Location Data ◽  
Crowd Control ◽  
Google Search ◽  
At Home

Purpose Virus epidemics may be mitigated if people comply with directives to stay at home and keep their distance from strangers in public. As such, there is a public health interest in social distancing compliance. The available evidence on distancing practices in public space is limited, however, by the lack of observational data. Here, we apply video observation as a method to examine to what extent members of the public comply with social distancing directives. Data Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage of interactions in public was collected in inner-city Amsterdam, the Netherlands. From the footage, we observed instances of people violating the 1.5-meter distance directives in the weeks before, during, and after these directives were introduced to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Results We find that people complied with the 1.5-meter distance directives when these directives were first introduced, but that the level of compliance started to decline soon after. We also find that violation of the 1.5-meter distance directives is strongly associated with the number of people observed on the street and with non-compliance to stay-at-home directives, operationalized with large-scale aggregated location data from cell phones. All three measures correlate to a varying extent with temporal patterns in the transmission of the COVID-19 virus, temperature, COVID-19 related Google search queries, and media attention to the topic. Conclusion Compliance with 1.5 meter distance directives is short-lived and coincides with the number of people on the street and with compliance to stay-at-home directives. Potential implications of these findings are that keep- distance directives may work best in combination with stay-at-home directives and place-specific crowd-control strategies, and that the number of people on the street and community-wide mobility as captured with cell phone data offer easily measurable proxies for the extent to which people keep sufficient physical distance from others at specific times and locations.

scholarly journals Facemask and social distancing, pillars of opening up economies

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0249677
Author(s):  
Ali Najmi ◽  
Sahar Nazari ◽  
Farshid Safarighouzhdi ◽  
C. Raina MacIntyre ◽  
Eric J. Miller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Control ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Economic Impacts ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Numerical Tests ◽  
Full Factorial ◽  
Opening Up ◽  
Close Contacts

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe health and economic impacts globally. Strategies to safely reopen economies, travel and trade are a high priority. Until a reliable vaccine is available, non-pharmaceutical techniques are the only available means of disease control. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the extent to which social distancing (SD) and facemask (FM) use can mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 when restrictions are lifted. We used a microsimulation activity-based model for Sydney Greater Metropolitan Area, to evaluate the power of SD and FM in controlling the pandemic under numerous scenarios. The hypothetical scenarios are designed to picture feasible futures under different assumptions. Assuming that the isolation of infected cases and the quarantining of close contacts are in place, different numerical tests are conducted and a full factorial two-way MANOVA test is used to evaluate the effectiveness of the FM and SD control strategies. The main and interactive effects of the containment strategies are evaluated by the total number of infections, percentage of infections reduction, the time it takes to get the pandemic under control, and the intensity of active cases.

The Development of an Online Tobacco Tracker Tool to Crowdsource Campus Environmental Reports for Smoke and Tobacco Free College Policies: A Mixed Methods Study (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina F. Loureiro ◽  
Kim M. Pulvers ◽  
Melissa M. Gosdin ◽  
Keavagh R. Clift ◽  
Myra J. Rice ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Positive Reinforcement ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Policy Enforcement ◽  
Sequential Mixed Methods ◽  
Effective Policy ◽  
Online Tracking ◽  
One Year

BACKGROUND College campuses in the United States have begun implementing Smoke and Tobacco-Free policies to discourage the use of tobacco. Smoke and Tobacco-Free policies, however, are contingent upon effective policy enforcement. OBJECTIVE To develop an empirically-derived online tracking tool (Tracker) for crowdsourcing campus environmental reports of tobacco use and waste to support smoke and tobacco-free college policies. METHODS An exploratory sequential mixed methods approach was utilized to inform the development and evaluation of the Tracker. In October 2018, three focus groups across two California universities were conducted and themes were analyzed, guiding Tracker development. After one year of implementation, users were asked in April 2020 to complete a survey about their experience. RESULTS In the focus groups, two major themes emerged: barriers and facilitators to tool utilization. Further Tracker development was guided by focus group input to address these barriers (e.g. information, policing, and logistical concerns) and facilitators (e.g. environmental motivators, positive reinforcement). Amongst 1,163 Tracker reports, those who completed the user survey (n=316) reported the top motivations to using the tool were having a cleaner environment (79%) and health concerns (69%). CONCLUSIONS Environmental concerns, a motivator which emerged in focus groups, shaped the Tracker’s development and was cited by the majority of users surveyed as a top motivator for utilization.

Millennial Missionaries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Dugan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Campuses ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Gender Essentialism ◽  
Craft Beer ◽  
Catholic University ◽  
Religious Piety ◽  
Religious Landscape

This book is an ethnography of millennial-generation Catholic missionaries. The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) began hiring young adults to evangelize students on college campuses in 1998. Since then, FOCUS missionaries have developed a style of Catholic evangelization that navigates between strict and savvy interpretations of Catholic teaching in contemporary US youth culture. The Catholicism that FOCUS missionaries embrace and promote grew up with them and amid their middle-class American norms—missionaries own iPhones, drink craft beer, and create March Madness brackets. Born in the 1990s, millennial missionaries in their skinny jeans and devotional tattoos, large-framed glasses and scapulars embody an attractive style of Catholicism. They love saints and have memorized the “Tantum Ergo,” are fluent in college-student slang, but reject hook-up culture in favor of gender essentialism dictated by papal teachings. Missionaries rely on their social capital to make Catholicism cool. Many of their peers have been characterized as defectors from religious institutions. Yet, underneath the rise of “nones” is a story of increased religious piety. This book studies religion in the United States from the perspective of proud Catholic millennials. As they navigate their Catholic and US identities, these missionaries propose Catholicism as uniquely able to overcome perceived threats of secularism, relativism, and modernity. How, why, and with what implications is this Catholicism enacted? These questions, which point to power struggles between US culture and religious identity, drive this book. Through their prayers and evangelization efforts, missionaries are reshaping Catholic identity and shifting the religious landscape of the United States.

The Right to Bodily Integrity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Brysk
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Sexual Violence ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bodily Integrity ◽  
Global Pattern ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Right

In Chapter 7, we profile the global pattern of sexual violence. We will consider conflict rape and transitional justice response in Peru and Colombia, along with the plight of women displaced by conflict from Syria and Central America, and limited international policy response. State-sponsored sexual violence and popular resistance to reclaim public space will be chronicled in Egypt as well as Mexico. We will track intensifying public sexual assault amid social crisis in Turkey, South Africa, and India, which has been met by a wide range of public protest, legal reform, and policy change. For a contrasting experience of the privatization of sexual assault in developed democracies, we will trace campus, workplace, and military rape in the United States.

scholarly journals A novel social distancing analysis in urban public space: A new online spatio-temporal trajectory approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 ◽  
pp. 102765
Author(s):  
Jie Su ◽  
Xiaohai He ◽  
Linbo Qing ◽  
Tong Niu ◽  
Yongqiang Cheng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Urban Public Space ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Trajectory Approach ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
Temporal Trajectory

scholarly journals Mining Google and Apple mobility data: temporal anatomy for COVID-19 social distancing

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Corentin Cot ◽  
Giacomo Cacciapaglia ◽  
Francesco Sannino
Keyword(s):  
Infection Rate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Strong Decrease ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Actual Measure ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Decisions ◽  
Mobility Reduction

AbstractWe employ the Google and Apple mobility data to identify, quantify and classify different degrees of social distancing and characterise their imprint on the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe and in the United States. We identify the period of enacted social distancing via Google and Apple data, independently from the political decisions. Our analysis allows us to classify different shades of social distancing measures for the first wave of the pandemic. We observe a strong decrease in the infection rate occurring two to five weeks after the onset of mobility reduction. A universal time scale emerges, after which social distancing shows its impact. We further provide an actual measure of the impact of social distancing for each region, showing that the effect amounts to a reduction by 20–40% in the infection rate in Europe and 30–70% in the US.

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